NCAA Roundup: VILLANOVA WOMEN WIN! Chelanga destroys field, Oklahoma State wins men's title

Villanova wins NCAA women’s championship; Oklahoma State edges Oregon in men’s race; Pavlus of St. Lawrence wins Div. III title

By Jack Pfeifer

 

Villanova upset No. 1-ranked Washington, the defending champions, to win the NCAA national cross country women’s championship on Monday in Terre Haute, Ind.

 

It was the seventh title overall for the Villanova women in the history of the Division I championships, their first since 1998 and the first-ever for their head coach, Gina Procaccio.

 

“The girls ran phenomenal,” Procaccio said. “It has been an amazing season, and all seven ran so well today. We continued to execute every race and stayed in the front pack the whole time.”

 

 

 

In the men’s race, Oklahoma State won its first title since 1954, edging the defending champions, Oregon, 127-143, despite the fact OSU’s ace, German Fernandez, finished just 97th. Stanford, the prerace favorite, finished 10th. Iona continued its run of Top 10 finishes, in 8th.

 

In the women’s race, Coach Pete Farrell’s Princeton squad, which won the Heps this fall with a perfect score of 15, just missed the trophies, finishing 5th.

 

In the Div. III nationals, held on Saturday in Berea, Ohio, surprising Wendy Pavlus of St. Lawrence in upstate New York won the individual championship, and her team finished in 2nd place, just 9 points behind Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Pavlus is a junior from Tupper Lake, a small community in the middle of the Adirondacks. “I wasn’t planning on winning the race,” Pavlus said, “but my fast start gave me confidence to win from the beginning. Amy Farrell, my high school coach, gave me the inspiration I needed to use today, and I owe my success to her.”

In the men’s Div. III race, NYU won another trophy, finishing in 4th place, one spot ahead of the defending champions, Cortland. Coach Nick McDonough’s Violets finished 1st in 2007 and 2nd in ’06. The race was won by North Central of Illinois.

 

The women’s Div. I individual race took a surprising turn when midway the favorite, Jenny Barringer of Colorado, a senior trying to win her first national championship in cross country, suddenly slowed and then collapsed.

 

“I definitely remember her (Susan Kuijken of Florida State) on my shoulder, and then all of a sudden going light-headed and thinking, ‘I don’t know how to run anymore,’” Barringer said by way of the university website. “I just lost my head and didn’t feel good and then next thing I knew I was on the ground thinking, ‘Is this really happening to me? Is this a race?’ I think I was just a little delirious. I found my way through though, and I remember thinking that I was going to score for the team. That is what I came here to do. I tried to fight to keep my mind awake and fight for the best place I could.”

 

Barringer, who was leading at the time she began to falter, wound up 163rd. Kuijken, who then assumed the lead, herself appeared to become lost near the late stages of the race, when she was passed by Angela Bizzarri of Illinois, the eventual winner, and Kendra Schaaf of Washington, the runnerup.

 

The Villanova women dominated the team scoring, finishing 6-12-20-22-26 for 86 points, well ahead of Florida State (133) and Washington (188). Amanda Marino, a junior from Jackson Regional (N.J.), finished 6th for the Wildcats after her teammate Sheila Reid cramped at 4k and fell back. Reid wound up 12th, Bogdana Mimic 20th, Alison Smith 22nd and Nicole Schappert 26th.

“I knew we had a lead out there,” Coach Procaccio said. “Around the 3k mark I realized that our runners were in front, but I didn’t truly realize that we had won until the end as I counted our first five runners across the finish line.”

 

Schappert, a senior from Delray Beach, Fla., is the daughter of Kenny Schappert, a 1975 Villanova graduate who was a member of eight Penn Relays championship relay teams for the Wildcats.

 

The Princeton women scored 251, 60 behind 4th-place Texas Tech. Their scorers were Liz Costello (18), Alex Banfich (43), Sarah Cummings (49), Ashley Higginson (53) and Reilly Kiernan (84).

 

Big East women’s teams wound up 1-6 (West Virginia)-11 (Providence)-18 (Syracuse)-21 (Georgetown).

 

In the men’s Div. I race, Iona was 8th with 350 points, just behind Mick Byrne’s Wisconsin Badgers. Iona’s scorers were Ryan Sheridan (10), Alexander Soderberg (31), Matthew Bayley (65), Jason Weller (100) and Josh Hibbs (144). The Villanova men finished 11th, Syracuse 14th, Virginia 15th, Providence 20th and Georgetown, led by Andrew Bumbalough in 6th, 22nd.

 

Oregon nearly pulled off a third straight men’s championship despite the graduation of its senior star, Galen Rupp. 

 

“Our men just ran a terrific race,” Coach Vin Lananna said. The Ducks were led by Luke Puskedra (17th) and Matthew Centrowitz (23rd). “It felt good to go out and run like we know we can.” Centrowitz said. “The way we were racing lately didn’t represent Oregon the way we wanted to.”

 

The Oregon women finished 9th, led by freshman Jordan Hasay (18th) and senior Nicole Blood (40th). “The pace went out really quick,” Hasay said. “The last kilometer, I just tried to be tough. I wanted to finish in the top 10, but I can’t be too disappointed.”

 

Blood, one of four veterans of the Saratoga Springs program running in the women’s race, said, “Sometimes you have these days. We have a great group of women, and we know we’re better than that.”

In the weekend’s Division III final, NYU finished 4th with 224 points, 8 points up on Cortland. NYU’s scorers were Zach Maher (12), Sebastian Schwelm (23), Matt Turlip (27), Calvin Lee (61) and Ryan Boyd (101). Cortland was led by Kyle O’Brien, who was 13th. Geneseo finished 6th, St. Lawrence 11th and Rochester Institute of Technology 31st. The reigning individual champion, Peter Kosgei of Hamilton College, faded badly in the late stages of Saturday’s race and finished just 43rd. Kosgei ran despite suffering all week from the flu.

 

In the women’s Div. III race, Pavlus defeated the reigning champion, Marie Borner of Bethel (Minn.). St. Lawrence went 1-8-11-28 but just 132 for its 5th runner, losing by 9 points to Eau Claire.

 

The NYU women, competing in their first nationals, were 24th. Their scorers, all freshmen and sophomores, were Joan Kanarkiewicz (78), Maeve Evans (85), Kirsten Keller (98), Kerra Vick (113) and Paige Zelinsky (134). Other N.Y. teams were Geneseo 9th, RPI 28th and Ithaca 31st.

 

In the Div. II nationals, held on Saturday in Indiana, Jeptui Cherutich of New York Tech finished 22nd and teammate Jackline Toek 88th. Adams State won both team titles.

 

 

 

The men’s individual Div. I race was won by Samuel Chelanga of Liberty, who ran the 10k distance in 28:41.3, the fastest in this race since Henry Rono of Washington State ran 28:19.6 30 years ago. Chelanga, formerly a student at FDU, was 2nd to Rupp a year ago. David McNeill of Northern Arizona was 2nd, Chris Derrick of Stanford 3rd.

 

The winning OSU Cowboys were led by Ryan Vail (7th) and Colby Lowe (8th) as Fernandez, the reigning NCAA 1,500-meter champion, faded.

 

“We talked before the race about letting Ryan lead the way,” said Coach Dave Smith. “He is experienced and poised and he won’t make any mistakes. I’m very proud of him, of Colby Lowe and the entire team.” Smith appeared at the victory ceremony alongside New Yorker Dick Weis, the longtime Cowboys coach who handed over reins of the team to Smith a year ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chelanga just before the 5K, which he split in 14:09